Library Video of the Week, January 28, 2013.

“This film unearths
declassified documents and highlights forgotten passages in prominent
presidential doctrines, showing how concerns about oil have been at the core of
American foreign policy for more than 60 years. As a result, the contemporary
energy and military policies of the U.S. are virtually indistinguishable…

“At the heart of
this story is a meeting between President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Saudi
King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud on Valentine’s Day, 1945, aboard the USS Quincy in
Egypt’s Great Bitter Lake. In that meeting, President Roosevelt made a pact
with the King that still resonates today: the United States will provide
military protection for Saudi Arabia in exchange for privileged American access
to Saudi Arabia’s vast oil reserves. With methodical precision, Klare details
how this meeting has spawned a series of events and presidential policies that
have resulted in repeated American military operations and wars in the Persian
Gulf.”

Anyone skeptical of the idea that oil drives American
military and strategic policy in the Mideast and the world should see this
movie.